A&M offense excelling, but Sumlin expects more

COLLEGE STATION — Kevin Sumlin and Dino Babers, back in the news this week for stories separated by more than 1,100 miles, made headlines together 11 years ago, when the two were tied together at the headset.

Former Aggies coach R.C. Slocum demoted Babers and promoted Sumlin to offensive coordinator in a desperate move to try and save his job early in the 2002 season. A&M's offense quickly improved under its new play-caller, but it already was too late for Slocum, who won more games than any A&M coach in history during his 14 seasons.

This week, Sumlin, in a stark reminder of his mentor, demoted Clarence McKinney and promoted Jake Spavital to offensive coordinator. This shift, however, was a far-from-desperate move for an empowered coach who just received a contract extension and pay bump.

And somewhere, a merciless dictator is in awe of Sumlin's apparent cold-blooded approach in making changes for an offense averaging a whopping 44 points this season.

“Jake will call the offensive plays beginning immediately,” Sumlin explained in an A&M release — meaning Spavital, the quarterbacks coach, already will handle the weighty duties in Atlanta's Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year Eve's against Duke (10-3).

On the heels of a season-long audition after McKinney's promotion from running backs coach, Sumlin concluded McKinney, a former Houston Yates High coach and strong recruiter, is better suited to (again) handle the Aggies' running backs moving forward.

Babers, meanwhile, has shown an assistant can overcome such a career speed bump. He was named Bowling Green's coach this week after leading Eastern Illinois to a 12-2 record and a quarterfinals showing in this year's FCS playoffs.

McKinney, a smart, studious sort, hardly was a failure in calling plays for the first time in college, as the Aggies rank fourth nationally in total offense with 538 yards. A&M (8-4) faltered late in the regular season in a 34-10 loss at LSU on Nov. 23 and a 28-21 setback at Missouri on Nov. 30, however, and the theory Southeastern Conference defenses had begun “figuring out” the Aggies and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel gathered steam.

There also always will be speculation no one knows exactly what McKinney's offense might have achieved, too, since Manziel often used his newfound freedom this season to check out of called plays.

The simple revelation, though, is Sumlin, who has led the Aggies to a 19-6 mark during their first two seasons in the SEC and whose salary went up from $3.1 million to $5 million annually after overtures from Southern Cal and the NFL, simply believes Spavital can do even better.

The SEC, too, is no place for a coach to concern himself with hurting anyone's feelings — especially since McKinney will ease back into a role he has been comfortable with under Sumlin with the Houston Cougars and A&M.

For his part, the 28-year-old Spavital has learned from some of the game's sharpest offensive minds during the past few years, including Sumlin, West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen and Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy. In a rarity, A&M fans will earn a sneak peek of Spavital's play-calling in the bowl game instead of having to wait until the 2014 season to see if he's truly Sumlin's type of guy for the job.

Sumlin, 49, recently explained his approach to handling offensive coordinators, a position which he excelled at both A&M and then Oklahoma, before his hire as UH's coach six years ago this month.

“In between series, I try to have a discussion with guys all of the time,” Sumlin said. “It bothered me as a play-caller when people were chiming in every other play. I didn't like that, and I don't think anybody who's in a rhythm likes that, either.

Spavital now does, and you can bet he'll hear quite a bit from his boss who once excelled at the position — but only between series and in game preparation and in review. Spavital, too, also will be acutely aware the last guy failed to meet Sumlin's lofty expectations.

Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle and chron.com covering Texas A&M athletics. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball.

Brent is the author of four published books about Texas A&M, three related to A&M athletics. He’s a four-time winner of APSE National Top 10 writing awards for the San Antonio Express-News, including a second-place finish for breaking the Dennis Franchione “secret newsletter” scandal in 2007.

His coverage of Texas A&M’s move to the SEC from the Big 12 also netted a third-place finish nationally in 2012. Brent met his wife, KBTX-TV news anchor Crystal Galny, in the Dixie Chicken before an A&M-Texas Tech football game in 2002, and the couple has three children: Will, Zoe and Brady.